Lebanon:Hizbullah has given up hope of reaching a compromise deal with Lebanon's majority coalition to end the country's political crisis, the group's leader said yesterday.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that Hizbullah would not be dragged into a civil war despite the failure of last month's Saudi-backed talks between the majority and the opposition to resolve the five-month-long stand-off.
"The dialogue is deadlocked. What do we do?" Sheikh Nasrallah said at a Hizbullah rally in Beirut's southern suburbs.
"We do not want a civil war. If the stalemate continues for a while until a solution is found or we go to a civil war, then let the stalemate continue."
Sheikh Nasrallah said that Hizbullah no longer demanded veto power in prime minister Fouad Siniora's government, but the only way out of the crisis was through a referendum to resolve the deadlock or by holding early elections - a proposal Mr Siniora and his allies have rejected.
He and his allies in the opposition were willing to bide their time until circumstances became "ripe for a solution" or until scheduled elections in 2009.
Lebanon is facing its worst crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Opposition ministers, including all Shias, resigned from the government in November because of Mr Siniora's refusal to give them 11 seats in the 30-member cabinet and effectively hand veto power to his opponents.
"We in the opposition became like beggars . . . I don't want this 19-11 [formula] any more," Sheikh Nasrallah said, closing the door on any negotiations with the majority."Today, the courageous decision is to return to the will of the Lebanese people."
Sectarian violence has led to the deaths of 10 people since the opposition took to the streets shortly after the resignations.
Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, is the most powerful faction in the opposition. The majority is led by the leader of the Sunnis, Saad al-Hariri, son of the late prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.
Sheikh Nasrallah has criticised the anti-Syrian majority for asking the UN Security Council to set up an international court to try suspects in the killing of Mr Hariri despite opposition demands that its laws be amended by parliament.
The majority, which accuses the opposition of trying to thwart the establishment of the tribunal to protect its allies in the Syrian government, has demanded a session of parliament so that lawmakers can vote on the tribunal draft. But the speaker of the parliament, Nabih Berri - a Hizbullah ally - has yet to convene the chamber. He says that he will not call it to debate the tribunal until the president, Emile Lahoud, also a Syrian ally, has signed the draft and a new government is formed.
- (Reuters)